Love is a Losing Game
by xHalosandwings
Summary: Kaitlyn receives a bouquet of sunflowers on Valentine's Day. Finding out the sender, however, doesn't always lead to happiness, especially not when the sender has baggage in the form of a girlfriend. Dolph/Kaitlyn.


Not a request, just really wanted to write a Dolph/Kaitlyn fic since their NXT cuteness and this idea popped into my head, what with Valentine's Day coming up.  
Hope you enjoy!

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**LOVE IS A LOSING GAME**

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**Sunflowers.

I opened up my locker and as I went to pull out my ring gear, in front of my duffel bag was a huge bouquet of yellow sunflowers. My first reaction was shock. Don't get me wrong, they're gorgeous – sunflowers are my favourite – but it's kind of unexpected.

"Did you have anything to do with this?" Kelly had been in the locker room before me and we weren't the closest of friends, but I figured she might've seen someone put the flowers in my locker.

"Sorry Kaitlyn, but you're not really my type." She joked, walking over to my locker and checking out the flowers. "They're beautiful. If you don't want them, I'll take them off your hands."

"Hey, you've got a boyfriend. Justin gives you presents all the time, plus now Drew _and_ Trent are like...in love with you. Leave something for the potential spinster of Smackdown." Worry flooded over me as I instantly wondered whether this person meant to leave the flowers for Kelly and just got the wrong locker. That would be embarrassing.

Obviously Kelly read my mind as noticing the look on my face, she asked "Is there a note?"

There was. I picked it up and read aloud. "_'Happy Valentine's Day.' _Yeah, that's not particularly helpful. That does nothing other than remind me it's February the fourteenth."

"And you have no idea who this could be from?"

"No clue." Honestly, I had zilch ideas. I decided to text AJ Lee who was my best friend in the WWE and would probably know better than anyone who'd be texting me. '_Got a bouquet of sunflowers, any clue who the sender is? Xx' _

A couple of seconds later, she responded. '_Whoever it is, I'm sure they're...dashing? xx'_

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Of course it was Cody Rhodes. There was no-one else it could be. Since our kiss on NXT, everytime he saw me backstage it was all touchy-touchy, flirty-flirty. Plus, he seemed like the kind of guy that would do the whole romantic thing; flowers, candy, probably slutty lingerie, the whole shebang.

"Hey, where's Rhodes?" Hopefully the ambush technique works as I pretty much leapt on Trent Barretta as he left the men's locker room.

"Uh...not in there?" Yep, Trent was definitely afraid of me. "I haven't seen him tonight."

"Looking for someone?"

I turned around and who else was there but Cody, the 'dashing' superstar wearing a sharp suit and walking towards me with his creeper eyes on. Seriously, I get that he's good looking and everything but I'm really not attracted to him like I probably should've been. Most girls would kill to date Cody Rhodes – after AJ practically ate his face on NXT, she refuses to admit she did it out of love, plus Kelly and him totally have a history she never talks about – but I was just never that into him.

Once Trent had disappeared, Cody leaned back against the wall with his arms folded. "Finally succumbing to your feelings for me?"

"Not exactly but I would like to thank you for the flowers you left in my locker."

"Flowers?" One of Cody's (probably plucked) eyebrows shot up and his back straightened. He started to walk towards catering and signalled that she follow. "What're you talking about?"

"The huge bouquet of sunflowers you left in my locker." I replied as if it were the most obvious. As soon as the words were out of my mouth and we walked into catering, I wondered if I had the right guy. "I assumed it was you that sent them?"

"Kaitlyn, I didn't leave you any flowers although I'm now starting to wish I did." He grabbed a bottle of water and flipped open the cap. "Sorry about that but I really have no idea who sent them either." Clearly I was no longer his priority as he made eye contact with one of the pretty make-up artists and instantly made a beeline for her.

Well, now I was left with absolutely no clues whatsoever. Cody was my only possibility and now he was gone, I was stumped. Desperately, I turned to the first guy I saw and said "Hey, you didn't by any chance leave some sunflowers in my locker, did you?" When I saw it was Tyler Reks, I sighed. "Of course _you_ didn't."

I span on my heel and walked away but ended up going straight into the path of a smug-looking Dolph Ziggler, who was sat at one of the tables doing something on his Blackberry. "Wow, you must be desperate for male attention if Tyler Reks' dreadlocks are an aphrodisiac to you."

Everyone knows mine and Dolph's story from NXT. His girlfriend Vickie was my mentor and Dolph and I embarked on some innocent flirting. I made the mistake of thinking we could be friends but I was severely wrong. Vickie hated me and there was no way she'd let us get close, even in a platonic way. She had Dolph's career in her hand so I guess I couldn't blame him for sticking with her.

"I'll have you know I'm not that short of male attention." Hold up. What if those flowers weren't from a _guy_? I mean, I love Ellen DeGeneres just as much as the next person but I dunno if I could deal with my own Portia de Rossi or Anne Heche.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah actually. In fact, earlier on tonight, I found a bouquet of yellow sunflowers in my locker with a '_Happy Valentine's Day' _note attached."

"You know, it doesn't count if your parents send them."

"Hey!" I shoved his shoulder, now having to convince myself it wasn't mom and dad. No. If it was them, there'd probably be some sappy note, saying how proud they were of everything I'd achieved and how bright my future was.

"So who are they from?" He sat back in his chair unamused with his arms folded across his chest.

"Truthfully? I don't know. They didn't leave a name and the note's computer typed so I can't even work out from the handwriting."

"Bad luck." Dolph got up from his seat and shrugged. "Good luck with your search. If you're interested, my money's on Ricardo Rodriquez." With what was hopefully a parting joke, he left catering.

"Hey Dolph, you forgot your-" His coat was still slung over the back of the chair he'd been sat on but he was gone and I couldn't catch up. I picked up the leather jacket and as soon as I did, a brown leather wallet fell out onto the floor and a slip of paper dropped out of that.

The paper had already unfolded so technically it wasn't like I was snooping. When I glanced at it, it was a receipt for a local Miami florist. Completely naive, I assumed they were for Vickie but when I looked again, I saw the order.

'_Sunflower bouquet.  
Delivered to – Mr at the American Airlines Arena, 2/14/11.  
Message – Happy Valentine's Day (for anonymous).' _

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"_The flowers were from Dolph? WTF?" _

When I called and explained what had just happened, AJ sounded just as surprised as I felt. In a complete state of shock, I ran back to the women's locker room and called my friend with no idea what to do, hoping she had some words of wisdom. "I know!" I lowered my voice when Beth entered the locker room to grab her kneepads but as soon as she left, I was squawking again. "What am I supposed to do?"

"_Go for it!" _

"AJ, this is Dolph. I can't just 'go for it'. There's all this stuff attached – and by stuff, I mean Vickie. He obviously doesn't want me to know the flowers are from him-"

"_Yeah, because the 'oh look, I left my jacket with the receipt in' approach was completely accidental." _AJ commented sarcastically. "_Actually, it could've been accidental but that's not the point. He bought you flowers on Valentine's Day! That's hardly a platonic thing to do. You need to let him know that you know, otherwise he'll think you're not interested and you don't want to look back ten years from now, married to Mr Boring Accountant Man and be wondering 'hey, I wonder what would've happened if I let Dolph know I liked those flowers. You probably wouldn't be with Mr Boring Account Man." _

I thought about what AJ said and sighed. "You know, AJ Lee, for such a little girl, you've got a big brain."

"_I'm gonna take that as a compliment. Call me later?" _

"Sure thing." I hung up and grabbed Dolph's jacket – which had his wallet in – and went to go find him. The second I opened the door, however, Dolph himself was stood there, his fist in the air, ready to knock.

"I left my wallet in catering and one of the guys in there said you took it-" He glanced down at my pile of belongings. "And apparently my jacket too. What are you, the Artful Dodger?"

"No, but it's good to know you read Oliver Twist in high school." I handed him his stuff. "That's one black leather jacket, one brown leather wallet-" I went into the pocket of my denim skirt and pulled out the receipt. "-and one receipt for a bouquet of sunflowers."

Dolph looked surprised to say the least but he tried to play it cool, leaning an elbow nonchalantly against the doorframe and scratching the back of his neck. It was fun to watch the normally cool-as-a-cucumber Dolph squirming, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, unsure of what to say.

"Thank you." I decided to make things a little easier for him. "They're really beautiful flowers – my favourite actually."

"Yeah, well, y'know, I just wanted to..." He was rambling until his face softened and his smiled. "You know."

Unfortunately, I did know. He liked me but he couldn't risk Vickie finding out when his career was at stake. He wanted a way to tell me all those times on NXT meant something but once again, Vickie couldn't know. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me and tell me he'd wanted me since the beginning but instead, I settled but reaching out and squeezing his hand. "I know."

It was like Romeo and Juliet, but it sucked because it was really happening.

"I'd better go, I've got a match to get ready for." He jerked a thumb awkwardly. "I'll see you around though?"

I nodded and watched him leave. Once he was gone, I closed the door and sat on one of the benches next to where I'd left the sunflowers. Instead of dwelling on what might've happened, I kept myself busy. Glancing over at the flowers, I smiled. They really were beautiful so I decided to find some water to put them in.

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Please **review** :) xx


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